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 Winnipeg Jets shifty center Brian Little scored three goals --
the team's first hat trick since moving from Atlanta to Winnipeg for
the 2011-12 season -- as the streaking club posted a convincing 6-2
victory over the worn-out Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
The 27-year-old native of Edmonton, Alberta, scored his ninth, 10th
and 11th goals of the season, including two in the first 77 seconds
of the third period, to snap the longest drought of any team in the
NHL without a hat trick.
The franchise's last three-goal game was by Atlanta's Eric Boulton
on Dec. 18, 2010.
Winnipeg improved to 13-9-4, including 4-0-1 in their last five
games. Colorado dropped to 9-12-6.
With the Jets leading 3-1, Little scored just 45 seconds into the
final period and then roofed a shot for his third of the night just
32 seconds later. The game was delayed for nearly five minutes as
hats rained down on the ice at MTS Centre, as fans soaked up the
monumental moment.
His first goal came at 12:29 of the first period on a quick wrist
shot from a bad angle. Initially, it looked like Avalanche goalie
Semyon Varlamov made the save of the year, but video review showed
his glove was across the plane of the goal line when he snare the
puck.
Little admitted he wasn't sure the first one crossed the line, and
he thought his third goal actually hit the cross bar.
"Honestly, two of the three goals I didn't celebrate because I
didn't know they were in," he said.
It was the second hat trick of Little's career, the last one coming
during the 2008-09 campaign with the Atlanta Thrashers when he
finished with a career-high 31 goals.
Little was asked if the Jets were conscious of the franchise's
hat-trick drought.
"A bit ...every time someone gets two goals, it's kind of who's
going to be the one that finally does it," Little said.
"We've had a ton of two-goal games. You knew it was a matter of
time. I didn't know if it would take this long."
 It's been a long time since right winger Chris Thorburn scored for
the Jets, but the resident tough guy notched his first goal of the
season for Winnipeg early in the first period. Left winger Andrew
Ladd potted his ninth and defenseman Dustin Byfuglien scored his
sixth. Right winger Blake Wheeler assisted on all three of Little's
goals.
"I was pumped," said Wheeler, of his center's big moment. "It was
something that this team has kind of held over our heads a little
bit.
"When he's feeling good with the puck and he gets hot, he's about as
dangerous as anyone I've ever played with."
Veteran right winger Jarome Iginla notched his fifth and sixth goals
of the season for the Avalanche, who looked sluggish from the outset
after playing the night before in Calgary, a game they lost 4-3 to
the Flames in overtime.
Winnipeg backup goalie Michael Hutchinson stopped 20 shots for his
fifth win of the year, while Varlamov and Reto Berra combined to
turn aside 31 shots.
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Colorado head coach Patrick Roy said some early jump by the Jets put
his club on the ropes, and they had very little left in the tank to
come back.
"(The Jets) were the better team tonight. They came out pretty
strong and put a lot of pressure on us. They got the momentum right
at the start of the game and they certainly deserved a lot of credit
for their performance," said Roy.
"I always think the start of the game is the key when you play
against a team that played back to back. And they did exactly what
they had to do. They deserved to win this game.
"We didn't have a good game, that's all."
Avalanche center Matt Duchene said playing on consecutive nights was
no excuse for the lackluster effort.
"That's unacceptable. We've got to be men about this," Duchene said.
"We've got to realize we have to manage the right way. We were lucky
to be down 2-1 and then we let in three goals in a matter of , I
don't know, two minutes in the end of the second and the start of
the third. It's not right. It's not the right way.
"They deserved to beat us 6-2 tonight. The score reflected exactly
how the game went."
Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot earned the first NHL point of his career
paired with Byfuglien, who moved back to defense for the first time
this year as Winnipeg overhauled its blue line due to injuries to
some key performers.
NOTES: Colorado C Matt Duchene and Winnipeg LW Evander Kane were the
third and fourth overall selections, respectively, in the 2009
draft. ... Jets sophomore D Jacob Trouba opened the scoring and then
chipped in a pair of assists Wednesday night in Winnipeg's 3-2
overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers for the three-point game
of his career. ... The Jets host the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday
afternoon and then head south to play the Dallas Stars and the
Avalanche in Denver next week. The Avalanche, meanwhile return home
for three games against the Nashville Predators, the Jets and the
St. Louis Blues.
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